Author Archives: Chronicles of a Blogaholic

On the Esplanade

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“Pacific Palisades
San Onofre and Sunset
Redondo Beach, LA
All over La Jolla
At Waimea Bay
Everybody’s gone surfin’
Surfin’ U.S.A”
Beach Boys

On the Esplanade

There is a city
Beautiful beyond belief
Though not well known
I call it home

This city has been around
For over a century
Where the sea meets the sun
For everyone to come and see

The Beach Boys song Surfin’ USA
Lyrics mention Redondo briefly
Few remember these lyrics
Fewer witness Redondo’s beauty

On my walk each day
Feeling the ocean breezes
Watching whales, dolphins and seals
All of them playing, jumping freely

I call Redondo my home
I feel so very fortunate
To be able to promenade
On the breathtaking Esplanade

JR

 

Shine On
Copyright ©
January 3, 2020

 

Hindsight is 2020 Vision

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“Every new beginning
comes from some other beginning’s end.”
Seneca

Hindsight is 2020 vision

 

Happy 2020 New Year all you fellow Blogaholics.

I don’t know about you, but saying 2020 makes me feel 10 times my age.

Let me begin with, I haven’t posted in over four years. Thank you my fellow bloggers who have noticed my absence and for those bloggers who reached out to me.

Like everyone else, I’ve been busy with life’s ups and downs. However, I decided to jump back into the wonderful world of blogging. I’m not sure where this will take me. But, I do know writing and being creative helped me in 2015 when I first began this blog.

My life has changed a great deal in the last few years. Changed for the worse and changed for the better. I won’t dive into the worse, but I will say, I’ve learned to appreciate the people in my life. I’ve learned to not take the time we spend with them for granted. I’ve learned that I’m much stronger than I ever believed.

No relationship is easy whether it’s a friend, a child or a spouse. To have a long and meaningful relationship, we must make compromises. Nobody is perfect, especially moi.

Hopefully going into this new decade we all will allow ourselves to be more compassionate, give more unconditional love, be a better listener and experience life to its fullest.

Billy Wilder once said, “It’s easy to know the right thing to do after something has happened, but it’s hard to predict the future. Hindsight is 20/20 vision”.

Shine On

Lion Cubs

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“I think my message to the politicians
who have within their power the ability
to make change is, ‘Do you really, really
not care about the future of your great-grandchildren?
Because if we let the world continue to be destroyed
the way we are now, what’s the world going to be like
for your great-grandchildren?’
Jane Goodall

Lion Cubs

Today when I saw this image taken by photographer Barbara Fleming when she visited the Serengeti Loliondo Conservation in Tanzania, it reminded me of Elsa from the movie Born Free.

The lion is one of my favorite wild animals. I first remember falling in love with the lion when I saw the movie The Wizard of Oz. A few years later, my grandmother knew how much I loved the lion so she took me to see the movie Born Free.

If you’re not familiar with the movie Born Free, it is a 1966 British docudrama about a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. To this day that movie still makes me cry.

If you’ve seen the movie Born Free, you will understand why this image is so powerful. Look closely at this image. It not only shows eight beautiful lion cubs lined up for what appears to be a professional family portrait, but the image has captured each of these lion cubs own distinct personalities. Right down to the two shy and timid cubs hiding behind the female lioness.

Shine On

In My Life

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“Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more”
John Lennon
John Lennon

There’s a Beatles song that was written by John Lennon that is one of my all time favorite Beatle songs. The song is In My Life and was released in 1965 on the Rubber Soul album.

John Lennon wrote the original song but Paul McCartney contributed to the final version. Later the pair disagreed over the extent of their contributions (specifically the melody). George Martin, who produced the recording, contributed the instrumental bridge. It is ranked 23rd on Rolling Stone‘s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” as well as fifth on their list of the Beatles’ 100 Greatest Songs.

According to Lennon, the song’s origins can be traced to when the English journalist Kenneth Allsop made a remark that Lennon should write songs about his childhood. Afterwards, Lennon wrote a song in the form of a long poem reminiscing on his childhood years. The original version of the lyrics was based on a bus route he used to take in Liverpool, naming various sites seen along the way, including Penny Lane and Strawberry Field.

In a 1980 interview, Lennon referred to this song as his “first real major piece of work” because it was the first time he penned personal lyrics about his own life.

Here’s a YouTube video with Bette Midler performing the song accompanied by ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro.

Shine On

 

Lovely Geraniums

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“Never trust a man or a woman who is not
passionately devoted to geraniums.”
John Beverley Nichols

My Lovely Geraniums.jpg

One of the small flowering plants that I have on my patio garden is the geranium. This fragrant hardy plant can grow in almost any climate and is thriving on my patio.

These lush growing plants look good in a bed all by themselves, or mixed in with other annuals. They also make attractive edging plants for the flower garden.

I’ve been growing geraniums for years. To keep them healthy, just water generously and dead head the plant often. Plus, they are the easiest plants to propagate.  Just clip a healthy stem and place it directly in the dirt. It’s just that easy to have beautiful lovely geraniums.

Shine On